Green heroes rewarded with bicycles

Earlier this month, 324 school pupils from several Magaliesburg schools were overcome with excitement when they received bicycles as part of an Eco Program reward.

Through a partnership between Qhubeka and Wildlands, 1 800 bicycles will be distributed to school pupils across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape over the next few months.

“The bicycles are a reward for participation in an Eco Program which involves activities such as community and river clean-ups, the propagation of indigenous plants required for restoration, and environmental education,” said the director of Wildlands, Dr Roelie Kloppers,

“The schools are also required to plant 200 indigenous trees with Wildlands in order to qualify to receive the bicycles, so it is a win-win for us as an environmental organisation as well as the pupils.”

Mogale City’s Executive Mayor, councillor Lynn Pannall and Deputy Chairperson of Child Welfare in Magaliesburg, Pinky Selebogi, were in attendance at the handover.

“This has been a collective effort, made possible through Wildlands, Qhubeka, Nedbank, the Mogale City Council, the Magaliesburg Business Forum and the Management Development Institution,” said Pinky.

“Furthermore these students can now cover longer distances and collect more recyclables which they can then load onto their bikes.”

Local schools that have participated and benefited from the programme include (Grade 8–12 pupils):

• Magaliesburg Secondary School

• Magaliesburg State School

• Madiba Comprehensive School

• Hoërskool Bekker

• Ithuteng Secondary School

• Ahmed Timol Secondary School

Wildlands also used this opportunity to reward 26 waste-preneurs based in Magaliesburg with bicycles.

‘Waste-preneur’ is the term used to describe green entrepreneurs who collect waste and barter it for livelihood support items. This is an existing project pioneered by Wildlands, called ‘Recycling for Life’, that has been uplifting communities and changing lives for several years.